But the job of strengthening the bank is not over, Chairman Mark Tucker said Wednesday, as the ever-changing global environment calls for a more agile business strategy.

“I think strategy evolves in a dynamic environment, and therefore must be dynamic by its nature,” Tucker told CNBC in an exclusive interview. “We have a business that is performing well, we have a strategy is working, but are there opportunities to get better clarity and do things better? The answer is yes.”

Wednesday marks a new era for the bank with John Flint, a veteran at HSBC, taking over as chief executive. Flint joins Tucker, which became chairman in October last year, as new leaders of a leaner and stronger HSBC.

The bank, largest by assets in Europe, went through a rough patch in the years after the last financial crisis. It lost tens of billions of dollars from U.S. subprime mortgages, and was fined another few billion dollars for financing Mexican drug cartels and tax evasion.

But the previous management, led by ex-Chairman Douglas Flint and former CEO Stuart Gulliver, turned the bank around by deepening its footprint in Asia and retreating from other emerging markets such as Brazil.